Infinite Reef (15 page)

“What?” said Alex.

“The
Goddard
!” It had occurred to Johnny that the energy heating the shuttle’s skin seemed to be equal to that of
Goddard’s
engines. “The numbers don’t lie,” he added, resetting the recording to show the entire object. “Look at it,” he said excitedly. “It’s a reflector of some kind, and I’m damned sure a twin is trailing the ship.”

“Why are they following us?” asked Connie.

“How should I know?” The Professor shrugged. “Watching us, I suppose.”

“It’s taking a while to contact the
Goddard
,” Alex noted, as he studied the image of the alien cluster. “Do you think there’s a problem?”

“No,” answered Johnny. “They have to locate us, then align the dish. It could take some time.”

“Use the radio,” said Connie. “If we’re lost, screw radio silence.”

“Being out of touch for fifteen minutes doesn’t mean we’re lost, Connie,” chided Johnny.

Alex faced his chair to the front again. “As long as the coffee and geebrew holds out, we’re fine.” he offered, raising his squeezer to the screen. “Here’s to the aliens, whoever or whatever they may be.”

“Hear, hear,” said Johnny. “Time to get one of those squeezers for me, too. But geebrew, not coffee.”

The Professor wasted no time unstrapping his harness and launching his body toward the rear of the cabin. “Connie,” he added, almost as an afterthought. “Go ahead and raise the
Goddard
. Speed this up a bit.”

No one was surprised to hear the angry voice of the Commander come back at them. “What’s this? I hope you have a good reason for breaking radio silence.”

Johnny cleared his throat. “We had to get out of there, Commander. Our ship was heating up. I can’t explain how. But I think the object is some kind of reflector that uses
Goddard’s
energy to power itself.”

There was silence for a moment, then the Commander said, “Have you got a fix on it?”

“Yes we do,” said Johnny.

“Are your systems okay?”

“Yes.”

“Hold your position. I’ll get back to you.”

4
Stubbs astonished everyone when he called back using the regular radio channel. “The consensus among our staff is that the object in our path must be destroyed,” his voice boomed over the cabin loudspeakers.

Alex had been afraid of this, but he held his tongue and waited for the Commander’s orders.

“I’m putting your systems to work, Connie,” announced Stubbs.

Connie smiled. “Finally,” she whispered.

There was a moment’s pause before the Commander continued. “Funny,” he said. “I thought I’d hear some protests.” He paused again, allowing for a response. When no one aboard
Tai Chi
replied, he continued. “No? Well, good. Let me explain.

In eight hours we’ll be entering Lalande c’s gravitational well. At that point we’ll need to do another burn. If anything interferes with it we’ll be in trouble. And now that we know it’s sapping our power ...”

“Commander,” replied Johnny, “with all due respect, the alien cluster’s a thousand kilometers ahead of you. That’s plenty of maneuvering room, even for a ship the size of
Goddard
. Can’t we just get around it?”

“What if you’re wrong?” asked Connie, in a voice loud enough for the Commander to hear.

“Exactly,” answered Stubbs. “We have been varying our flight path and it’s sticking to us like glue. We have to get it out of our way.”

“What do you propose we do, Commander?” asked Johnny, looking doubtfully at Connie. “You want us to destroy it?”

“Yes,” answered the Commander. “Our computer is downloading a tactical route that will take you in, avoiding that hot spot you encountered before.”

Alex agreed with Johnny. While he understood Stubbs' position, he still felt that the Commander was making a mistake.

After all, they were still guests in the Lalande system, and guests don’t shoot their hosts. He wondered what Mary would recommend.

“Any arguments?” asked the Commander. “Alex, I expected to hear from you on this.”

“Have you consulted Mary?” Alex asked.

Stubbs laughed. “Should I?”

“She might have some insight,” offered Johnny.

Alex looked at the Professor and smiled. “Yeah. Why not?”

Connie groaned, but made no other comment.

“Frankly, Professor Baltadonis, I can see no reason to debate. Our mission is imperiled. It’s as simple as that. Now I want you on your way. Is that understood?”

“Understood,” answered the Professor.

Connie smiled. “Let’s go ... pilot.”

Alex shrugged. “What the hell,” he said. “Let’s dance with the devil.”

“One more thing,” said Stubbs, ignoring Alex’s comment. “Our tactical staff is downloading instructions to your weapons system, Connie. When you reach the target the program will take over.”

“Are you saying I’ll just be sittin’ here?” Connie’s face flushed with anger.

“I’m glad you understand your orders, Tsu,” said Stubbs, bemused by her reaction. “You will be monitoring the action and act only when called upon.”

When Connie didn’t reply, Stubbs continued. “A word to all of you. Our staff wants nothing left to chance. They’ve worked out an attack pattern and you’ll be executing it. Understood?”

“Understood,” grumbled Tsu.

The shuttle’s engines had already engaged when Stubbs signed off. Guided by
Goddard’s
flight program, they moved at high speed in a looping flight path that would lead them first away from the object then back toward it, approaching it edge on.

Alex looked at Johnny and shook his head. “This is a classic attack pattern,” he remarked, scorn in his voice. “What makes Stubbs think the aliens can’t see that?”

Johnny frowned as the shuttle continued to accelerate. “Aren’t you assuming again?”

“I don’t assume anything,” snapped Alex. “Stubbs just radioed our plan. Isn’t he assuming the aliens can’t read them?”

Johnny had no ready reply, and Alex continued: “If they left the attack plan up to us, there’s no way the aliens could figure out what we’re doing until it’s too late to stop us.”

Connie’s eyes widened in amazement. “Now you’re making sense, Alex,”she said almost happily. “He’s right. We have broadcast our plans.”

Johnny puffed out his cheeks in frustration. “Damn it, Alex. You do have a way of complicating my life. But you should have spoken up sooner. We have our orders.”

Alex might have argued that Stubbs hadn’t given him time to analyze the plan. But it didn’t really matter. The results would be the same.

The
Tai Chi
moved quickly, and in a relatively short time they were approaching the smaller rods at the perimeter of the group. In all, not counting the central rod, the computer had mapped the position of twenty-six rods that seemed to be connected by taut sheets that looked like metallic sailcloth. On the viewscreen the map was superimposed over a real picture of the sky. The targeting system outlined each of the rods with a glowing red line.

Johnny announced that the floodlights would soon come on. “Here we go, people.”

Green lettering then began to scroll across the lower part of the viewscreen. “LASER RANGING – RADAR RANGING

– 1 KILOMETER – METALS SETTING – SEVEN MEGAWATTS – FIRING PULSE LASER ...”

A brilliant red line pierced the dark, then blackness returned.

In the distance Alex thought he saw a flickering of light, but when he studied the spot on the viewscreen nothing was there.

“Reaction?” asked Stubbs.

“Something,” answered Alex, “but what, I can’t say.”

“Something?” Stubbs echoed, scornfully.

Alex shrugged. Steadily the ship drifted forward, closing the distance between the rod and the shuttle. “Okay, it was like our beam was bouncing around inside it somehow,” he explained, groping for a description of something he’d hardly seen and had lasted only a second.

“That makes sense,” said the Professor. “Energy managers.”

“Are you close enough to see if there’s any damage?” asked Stubbs, sounding ever more impatient.

“It would help a lot if we could see it,” griped Tsu.

Following its program the computer announced its next move with more green text. “HALF KILOMETER – FLOODS

ON – RANGING SAME LOCATION – METALS SETTING – THREE POINT FOUR MEGAWATTS – FIRING.”

“Metals?” said Tsu. “We’re astromining. Is that it?”

The floodlights came on, but Alex couldn’t see any change in the scene before them. On the viewscreen there still seemed to be nothing there. “I can’t see squat,” said Alex. “Shouldn’t we be seeing something?”

“It’s the distance,” offered Johnny. “If those objects manage energy we’ll have to get close for the floods to show us anything.”

Alex kept an eye on the ranging data scrolling at the side of the viewscreen. Each time they halved their distance to the target, the computer fired another stronger laser burst.

After four shots, the
Tai Chi
was only ten meters from the object and had slowed to a crawl. Finally Alex was beginning to see details in the ghostly shape that blotted out the stars, but the details made no sense. He would see a hint of a geometric shape and before he could define the shape, it moved, dimmed, or vanished altogether. “Are any of you reading this thing?” he asked. “It sure doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever seen.”

“No details, if that’s you’re meanin’,” answered Connie. “Not even with military optics.” She took off her helmet, sighed, and wiped her forehead with her sleeve. “Glad I’m not doin’ the shootin’,” she admitted. “Nothin’ to aim at.” She put the helmet on its mount.

Alex studied the thing as
Tai Chi’s
lights scanned its surface. He had the impression of a multifaceted crystal of black cobweb. Nothing he’d ever seen, even deep inside Jupiter’s reef, compared to it.

A computer’s message raced across the viewscreen. “LASER TEST COMPLETE – DATA TRANSFER ANALYSIS

WORKING – BEGINNING PULSER TEST.” Connie’s console lit up and three popping sounds could be heard through the hull as three blue green globes of light slammed into the giant rod.

The thing collapsed to shrapnel before their eyes. Pieces of it, large and small, traced whirling paths outward in all directions. “Nailed it!” Connie shouted in glee.

The shuttle didn’t slow, but moved slowly and deliberately through the churning debris. Alex tried to make out the material as bits of it bounced off the windshield, shattering as they flew back into the gloom, giving him the impression of thin sheets of broken black glass.

“What’s on your screens, Professor?” asked Stubbs.

“Debris,” answered Johnny.

Stubbs grunted in agreement. “It collapsed in sections, like a house of cards. Our radar saw something else go, too.

Outside the perimeter. Lines of some kind? It happened quickly. We’ll have to play it back ...”

Alex felt the ship pick up speed as it continued through the debris field. “Lines?” he said. “Do you mean cables?”

“Just traces,” said Stubbs. “Like I said, we only it for just an instant.”

Shards of alien material flickered in the shuttle’s forward lights. Finally they moved into clear space. “SCANNING FOR

RESPONSE – EM BACKGROUND VARIATIONS NEGLIGIBLE –” The green lettering moved across the screen delivering its cryptic narrative. “NO RESPONSE DETECTED – PROCEEDING WITH MISSION – CONDITION

NOMINAL.”

“That’s strange,” remarked Professor Baltadonis. “I’d have expected a pause for analysis, at least.”

When Stubbs didn’t respond Alex began to wonder if they were still being monitored. Johnny apparently had the same idea. “
Goddard
?” the Professor said. “Any thoughts?”

“We’re monitoring the test, Alex, thank you,” said the voice of the Commander. “Is there a problem?”

“Alex asked what you ...
Goddard
... thinks of what just happened,” offered Johnny. “We seem to have done some damage, don’t you think?” he gave an uncertain laugh.

“Indeed,” answered Stubbs. “I’ll get back to you after the test, people.”

Tai Chi’s crew looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Alex shrugged as he caught Johnny’s eye. “Well, Professor,” he said in a voice loud enough for the distant Commander to hear, “I guess it’s up to us to figure out what this thing is.

Right?”

The Professor laughed darkly. “Trouble is, we’re too close, Alex. Only
Goddard
can see the whole array.” Johnny spoke loudly, too, obviously inviting a response from the Commander.

“We don’t see changes so far,
Tai Chi
,” offered Stubbs. “Judging from the tone of your voices I’m wondering if you all remember your duties on this mission. We went over it before the mission. You are observers. Right now the computer is handling things quite satisfactorily.”

“Thank you, Commander,” said Johnny politely.

Alex watched the viewscreen, trying to see shadows among the stars. So far there had been no reaction the attack from the aliens. Guided faithfully by the ship’s computer, they had passed through the debris field without slowing and were approaching the formation again. Alex knew what was coming.

He was beginning to think that Johnny was right, that the mystery object, or objects, were using
Goddard’s
energy to keep apace with the great ship.

But to what purpose? How, Alex asked himself, were these things connected to the ship? And were they even aware that a tiny shuttle had just obliterated one of their machines? He tried to put himself into the position of the aliens. He imagined that, in a star system as dark as this one, the critters might have learned to let other senses dominate. But what senses? Were human senses even comparable? Johnny longed for contact, but if it happened, would there be any basis for communication?

Alex remembered the aliens’ world. To him it had seemed to be arranged like life anywhere else. It had a lighting system powered by the mammoth atmospheric vortex that contained it. That implied at least that the aliens might have known times when their sun was brighter. Now that their ancient sun had dimmed to a red dwarf, they lived in a cocoon of light, using their ancient technology simply to maintain their world.

How would such an isolated species treat a visitor? It was that question that made Alex give up his mental exercise in alien altruism. The answer was always the same. No answers at all.